Project Coordinator for Civil Society Strengthening Program for Children’s Rights

1. Organizational Background

The Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development (ECDD) is a national disability-based, non-governmental, and non-profit Civil Society Organization (CSO). ECDD is committed to promoting the rights and opportunities of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through policy advocacy and the mainstreaming of disability inclusion in service delivery, development programs, humanitarian actions, and peace initiatives. Established in 2005, ECDD is dedicated to fostering an inclusive Ethiopia in which persons with disabilities, in all their diversity, exercise their human rights and have access to mainstream services and opportunities on an equal basis with others. ECDD places strong emphasis on child rights, gender equality, safeguarding, accountability, and participation.

ECDD is a consortium member of a Save the Children International (SCI)–led Civil Society Strengthening Programme (2026–2028), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The project aims to strengthen civil society actors, including children, to claim and expand civic space and to hold duty-bearers accountable for the equitable fulfilment of children’s rights, with a strong focus on inclusion, participation, and rights-based accountability.

Within this consortium framework, ECDD will implement agreed project components focusing on disability-inclusive child rights advocacy, civic engagement, capacity strengthening, and accountability mechanisms, ensuring meaningful participation of children with disabilities and their representative organizations.

To ensure effective coordination, high-quality implementation, and strong alignment with SCI and Sida requirements, ECDD seeks to recruit a Project Coordinator.

2. Purpose of the Position

The Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of ECDD’s project responsibilities under the SCI-led Civil Society Strengthening Programme. The position ensures timely delivery of results in accordance with approved country-level logframe and indicators, effective consortium coordination based on shared agreements, compliance with SCI standards and requirements, and meaningful inclusion of children with disabilities throughout the project cycle, with gender equality and safeguarding.

3. Key Duties and Responsibilities

A. Project Planning and Coordination

• Coordinate the planning and implementation of ECDD’s project activities in line with the approved consortium project document, annual work plans, budgets, and SCI guidelines.
• Serve as the primary focal person between ECDD and Save the Children International Ethiopia Office for day-to-day project coordination, which includes planning, implementation, reporting, and learning.
• Participate in consortium coordination meetings, technical working groups, and joint planning and review processes to learn and contribute to disability inclusive and gender responsive child rights in Ethiopia
• Ensure coherence and complementarity between ECDD’s interventions and those of other consortium partners.
• Ensure alignment with the project outcomes and donor policies, as well as ECDD Strategic Plan (2025-2030);
• Support adaptive management approaches in response to civic space dynamics and contextual changes.

B. Program Implementation and Technical Oversight

• Oversee the implementation of project activities related to civil society and OPD capacity strengthening, disability-inclusive child rights advocacy, civic space protection and expansion, social accountability and duty-bearer engagement, and meaningful participation of children, including children with disabilities.
• Ensure that child safeguarding, disability inclusion, gender equality, and do-no-harm principles are mainstreamed across all activities.
• Provide technical guidance to project staff, partners, respective stakeholders, and consultants engaged by ECDD.
• Ensure high-quality facilitation of trainings, dialogues, and advocacy processes.
• Ensures good communication, coordination, and information sharing among the project team through facilitating regular team meetings, followed by minutes of the meeting shared with the Program Director and Deputy Program Director.

C. Rights-Based Approach and Inclusion, Advocacy, Policy Engagement, and Civic Space

• Ensure that project implementation reflects a Child Rights-Based Approach (CRBA) and aligns with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
• Promote meaningful, safe, and ethical participation of children, particularly children with disabilities, in civic and accountability processes.
• Support the strengthening of OPDs and child-led or child-focused CSOs as rights claimants and accountability actors.
• Identify and address barriers to participation, access, and inclusion.
• Coordinate ECDD’s contribution to policy reviews, complementary reports, advocacy papers, and recommendations linked to CRC and CRPD.
• Support engagement with government institutions, Parliament, and relevant ministries to advance disability-and child-inclusive policies.
• Facilitate platforms for CSOs and children with disabilities to influence decision-making at national and regional levels.
• Support evidence-based advocacy and documentation of policy influence outcomes.

D. Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement

• Strengthen collaboration with CSOs and networks, OPDs, Child-and youth-led groups, government institutions, duty-bearers, human-rights bodies, and oversight institutions to ensure successful implementation of the project and promote children’s rights.
• Facilitate constructive engagement between rights-holders and duty-bearers.
• Support joint advocacy initiatives and coalition-building efforts.

E. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

• Coordinate with the MEL team and participate in the development and implementation of project MEAL frameworks and plans in line with SCI and Sida requirements.
• Track progress against agreed indicators, milestones, and outcomes, including fund utilization, and identify any gaps, and provide consistent updates to the Program, MEL, and Finance Units, as well as to Donors.
• Ensure collection of high-quality, disaggregated data (including disability, age, and gender).
• Document and report project achievements, lessons learned, best practices, and emerging risks related to civic space and accountability, together with mitigation strategies.
• Support reflection, learning, and adaptive programming processes.

F. Reporting and Documentation

• Prepare timely and high-quality narrative reports, updates, and inputs for consortium, donor, government signatories, as well as the MEL Unit of ECDD
• Ensure accurate documentation of project outputs, outcomes, and evidence of change.
• Contribute to success stories, case studies, and advocacy briefs as required.
• Maintain proper project records and documentation in line with ECDD, SCI, and Sida standards.

G. Financial and Compliance Oversight

• Coordinate closely with ECDD finance and operations teams to ensure budget adherence and cost-effectiveness, timely financial reporting and forecasting, and compliance with donor, SCI, and ECDD policies
• Support procurement planning and contract management related to project activities.
• Ensure compliance with all relevant ECDD policies and procedures, including, but not limited to: Children and Adults at Risk Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), Anti-fraud and bribery, Gender Equality, Data Protection, Finance, Procurement, and Human Resources Management.

H. Representation and Visibility

• Represent ECDD in relevant project-related forums, meetings, and events as delegated.
• Contribute to visibility and communication efforts in coordination with SCI and ECDD communication teams.
• Ensure ethical and safe representation of children and persons with disabilities in all communications.

Required Qualifications, Experiences, Competencies, and Skills

4.1. Education

• Master’s degree in Development Studies, Human Rights, Social Sciences, Social Work, Sociology, Law, Political Science, Public Policy, Project Management, or a related field.
• Specialized training in child rights, civil society strengthening, or rights-based programming is an asset.

4.2. Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in civil society strengthening, governance, human rights, or advocacy programming.
• Demonstrated experience in child rights, advocacy, civic space, social accountability, governance, disability inclusion, or civil society strengthening.
• Proven experience working with CSOs, OPDs, child-led groups, and government institutions.
• Proven experience coordinating donor-funded projects, preferably Sida-funded and/or SCI-implemented programmes.
• Experience working in consortium or partnership-based projects.
• Experience working with persons with disabilities and disability-inclusive programming is a strong advantage.
• Willing to frequently travel to the target cities of the project;

4.3. Technical Competencies

• Strong understanding of child rights frameworks (CRC) and civic space dynamics.
• Knowledge of disability inclusion and CRPD principles as well as the ability to mainstream gender, disability, and child participation.
• Experience with rights-based advocacy, accountability mechanisms, and CSO capacity strengthening.
• Solid MEAL, quality reporting, and project management skills, including a solid understanding of Results-Based Management (RBM), Results-Based Budgeting, and logframes, indicators.

4.4. Core Skills and Attributes

• High level of integrity, accountability, and professionalism
• Excellent coordination, facilitation, team management, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical, writing, and communication skills in English.
• Ability to manage complexity, multiple partners, and competing priorities.
• Commitment to child rights, inclusion, and civic space.
• Demonstrated ability in computer skills,

5. Language Requirements

• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required.
• Fluency in Amharic is required.
• Knowledge of other local languages is an asset.